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Thursday, 24 July 2014

Earlier this year in January, Google
revealed its plans for devising smart contact lenses to help diabetic
patients calculate their blood sugar level. Google is now closer to put this
plan into practice as it finds a Swiss partner to collaborate with. The Alcon
eye care unit of Swiss Pharmaceuticals, “NOVARTIS” will license the advanced Google
smart contact lenses to address certain medical issues.

Traditionally; diabetic patients have to pin & prick the
finger to calculate the blood sugar levels; which is painful, time-consuming
& a little bit messy. It is crucial to have the sugar-levels of blood
checked regularly & very timely to prevent patient from potential damages
of eyes, kidneys & heart. Contradictory to this; Google advanced technology
of smart contact lenses would constantly monitor the level of sugar in one’s
body through the fluid found in eyes which will then be sent through wireless
technology to the user.

"We're now testing a smart contact lens that is built to measure glucose levels in tearsusing a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized
glucose sensor that are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens
material," project co-founders Brian Otis and BabakParviz said in a blog
post in January when the technology was announced. "We're testing
prototypes that can generate a reading once per second."

Google’s smart contact lenses’ chips & sensors look like
bits of glitters while the embed antenna is thinner than the human hair; as per
Google’s elaboration at the “project revelation” earlier this year.

According to Google; the new breakthrough technology of smart
contact lenses would even be a miracle for people with presbyopia- an
age-related condition where eyes loses the ability of auto-focusing the closer
objects. Smart lenses could attempt to correct the vision by restoring the
capability of autofocusing through intraocular lens. It would further help
blinds to see “some objects”. For instance blinds wearing smart contact lenses
with a built-in camera could be able to walk on sidewalks near intersections.

"By
combining Alcon's leadership in eye care and expertise in contact lenses and
intraocular lenses with Google's innovative 'smart lens' technology and
groundbreaking speed in research, we aim to unlock a new frontier to jointly
address the unmet medical needs of millions of eye care patients around the world”,
Said Alcon division head Jeff George said in a statement.